1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a value medium processing apparatus capable of determining authenticity of a coin and of writing or reading value information to or from a coin-shaped electric value information storage medium (IC coin). Specifically, the present invention relates to a value medium processing apparatus capable of sorting a coin and an IC coin inserted into a common inlet and of storing or returning the sorted coin and IC coin. More specifically, the present invention relates to a value medium processing apparatus for a coin and an IC coin capable of sorting a coin and an IC coin inserted into a common inlet, of storing or returning the sorted coin and IC coin, and of fitting into a de-facto standard size. The value medium processing apparatus according to the present invention can be used for coin-operated game machines, vending machines, and the like. In the present specification, the term “coin” collectively refers to hard currencies, medals and tokens for game machines, and the like; and the term “IC coin” collectively refers to coin-shaped electric value storage media.
2. Description of Related Art
As a first conventional technology, a type sorting mechanism is known, in which a common inlet and a vertically long path therebehind are provided, the inlet having a vertical slit and being capable of receiving both an IC coin and a coin, the vertically long path having a same width as that of the inlet; an obliquely downward coin path is provided in a central portion in a width direction on a bottom surface of the vertically long path, the coin path having a width that can accommodate the coin alone and having a relatively high gradient; a coin receiving slit having a width through which the coin alone can drop is provided ahead of the coin path; obliquely downward shoulders having a lower gradient are provided on both sides of the coin path; and, an IC coin receiver is provided further ahead of the coin receiving slit (Refer to Related Art 1, for example). As a second conventional technology, a sorter is known, in which a downwardly oblique coin feeding path is provided extending from a common inlet, and a plurality of shutters are provided on the coin feeding path. The sorter determines the size of an inserted coin and selectively opens the shutters, and thereby sorts an IC coin and an coin into corresponding processors (Refer to Related Art 2, for example). As a third conventional technology, a coin processing apparatus is known having a coin inlet into which a coin is inserted; a rolling path on which the coin inserted from the coin inlet rolls in a diameter direction; and a coin processor that processes the coin rolling on the rolling path. A sorter and a medium processor are provided in the rolling path, the sorter sorting the coin from a contactless IC medium having a circular plate shape inserted from the coin inlet, the medium processor processing the contactless IC medium sorted by the sorter. The sorter is a weight sorter, which sorts the contactless IC medium to be introduced to the medium processor. Further, as a fourth conventional technology, a coin processing apparatus is known, in which the sorter of the third conventional technology is provided with a stopper that temporarily stops a contactless IC medium having a larger diameter than that of a coin. The medium processor then processes the contactless IC medium temporarily stopped by the stopper (Refer to Related Art 3, for example).
[Related Art 1] Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2006-189986 (FIGS. 1 to 3; Pages 2 to 4)
[Related Art 2] Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2005-293097 (FIGS. 2 to 7; Pages 6 to 11)
[Related Art 3] Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2002-063623 (FIGS. 1 to 3; Pages 1 to 4)
The first conventional technology provides an advantage that allows the coin and the IC coin to be inserted into the same inlet and thus prevents customers from using a wrong inlet. Since the coin is dropped to the coin path by the obliquely downward shoulders having a low gradient, however, the coin, which has inertia force from rolling, may roll on the shoulders, not dropping into the coin path. Thus, the coin may not be sorted. In addition, the coin is sorted while rolling on the IC coin path, and then identified. Therefore, a writer or reader of the IC coin needs to be provided downstream of the path on which the coin rolls, thus causing a problem of an apparatus growing in size. Further, the first conventional technology mechanically determines authenticity of the coin simply based on the thickness, thus incapable of identifying a false coin having a thickness same as that of a true coin. In order to improve accuracy of authenticity determination, a diameter, material, and the like need to be taken into account to determine authenticity. It is thus necessary to provide a determinator subsequent to the coin path, thus causing a problem of an apparatus growing in size. Specifically, it is required that the apparatus fit into a size of conventional coin sorters, in view of ensuring of compatibility with existing coin sorters used in game machines and the like. More specifically, a value medium processing apparatus needs to fit into an international de-facto standard of 3.5 inches in width and length. The first conventional technology, which has the large size problem as described above, thus cannot ensure compatibility.
In the second conventional technology, the IC coin processor and the coin authenticity determinator need to be provided downstream of sorting by the shutters, similar to the first conventional technology. Thus, the second conventional technology cannot achieve the size compatibility with existing apparatuses.
The third conventional technology, which sorts the coin from the IC coin using the weight sorter, is affected by coin insertion speed and thus may wrongly identify the coin as the IC coin. In addition, although a portion extending from the inlet is commonly used, mostly the coin path and the IC coin path need to be provided separately. Thus, the technology cannot achieve the size compatibility with existing apparatuses.
The fourth conventional technology, which performs sorting based on the diameter difference between the coin and the IC coin, does not allow the size of the IC coin to be set freely.